PORTLAND, Ore. --- Hosting the No. 9 team in the nation, the Portland Pilots played tough all match long, but ultimately the BYU Cougars won in three hard-fought sets. BYU took it with set scores of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-17 at the Chiles Center.
 
The Pilots (8-5, 0-2 WCC) never gave in during the match, and were led by senior Shayla Hoeft who had a wonderful all-around match: she had 10 kills, a .283 hitting% and five total blocks. Junior Kellie Hughes had 37 assists, and junior Carey Williams had nine digs.
 
The match began with the Pilots exchanging points with the Cougars (11-2, 2-0 WCC), grabbing an early lead at 6-5 with one of sophomore Claire Forrest's eight kills. BYU would respond with an 11-3 run to grab the lead, eventually going up 21-14. Portland refused to give in, with a pair of kills from junior Liz Reich making it 20-24. The Cougars weathered the storm, with a Pilot service error giving BYU the first set at 25-20.
 
Portland continued to compete with No. 9 BYU, with another back and forth start to the second set. The Pilots would soon separate themselves, going on a 6-0 run that featured two kills from freshman Jayde Harris, to go up 15-10. The Cougars would show their prowess, responding by tying the set and gaining the lead at 22-21. Despite a kill from Reich to tie the score, the Cougars would go on a 3-0 run to take the second set at 25-22.
 
Needing to rally from being down 0-2, one of senior Katie Baker's six kills would close the gap to 10-12. The Cougars would remain resilient, and went on to take the third set at 25-17.
 
Next week, the Pilots hit the road for their first WCC roadtrip of the 2019 season, playing Pepperdine and LMU.